Pas de Deux
from The Nutcracker
The Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Eight bars descending on the celesta and the ballet enters another world.
Classical · Russian Romantic · 1840 · 1893
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Composer of the singing heart. Tchaikovsky carried the Russian folk melody into the European concert hall and gave the ballet its modern form. He wrote the music everyone hums without knowing they hum it. Beneath the bright surface ran a darker current; his last symphony, the Pathétique, ends in a long descent into silence. From the celesta of the Sugar Plum Fairy to that final movement, the listener walks the whole range of his voice.
XXX selections · 5h 31m
Individual works
Ballet excerpts, overtures, and single pieces
Waltz
from Swan Lake · 432 Hz
The great Act I waltz. The court dances under the lake of swans; the orchestra makes the lake speak.
Valse Sentimentale
432 Hz
A short waltz in a remembered key. The Russian soul through the French salon.
Waltz of the Flowers
from The Nutcracker · 432 Hz
Harp cadenza, then the long-breathed melody. The most loved waltz in all of ballet.
Marche Slave
Op. 31 · 432 Hz
A patriotic overture on Serbian themes, written for a Red Cross benefit during the Russo-Turkish war.
Waltz of the Snowflakes
from The Nutcracker · 432 Hz
The first-act snow scene. Children's chorus, swirling strings, winter as enchantment.
Russian Dance
Trepak · from The Nutcracker · 432 Hz
A minute and a quarter of folk-dance momentum, ending almost before it begins.
Waltz of the Flowers
Second reading · 432 Hz
A second reading of the great Nutcracker waltz, in 432 Hz tuning.
Sleeping Beauty Waltz
432 Hz
The Garland Waltz from Act I. Aurora's birthday in the form of one long melodic line.
Rococo Variations
Op. 33 · 432 Hz
Variations for cello and orchestra in homage to the eighteenth century. A nineteenth-century Russian writing as if from Vienna.
The Queen of Spades
Overture · 432 Hz
The overture to his Pushkin opera. Three card-suits, one obsession, and the ghost of an old countess.
1812 Overture
Finale with cannons, fireworks, bells · 432 Hz
The final pages of his most famous concert piece. La Marseillaise crushed by the Tsar's hymn and the bells of victory.
The Nutcracker Suite
Op. 71a · 432 Hz
Excerpts from the suite he assembled himself from the ballet. Concert miniatures of his most beloved score.
Swan Lake Waltz
432 Hz
A second reading of the Swan Lake waltz, in 432 Hz tuning.
Autumn Song
from The Seasons · 432 Hz
October, from his year-long cycle of piano miniatures. Tolstoy wept when he heard him play it.
Symphony No. 6
Pathétique · Finale · 432 Hz
The final movement of his last symphony. A slow descent that ends, unlike anything before it, in silence.
Rococo Variations
Second reading · 432 Hz
A second reading of the Rococo Variations, in 432 Hz tuning.
Symphony No. 2
Little Russian · 432 Hz
His "Ukrainian" symphony, woven from folk material. The young composer turning to the songs of his country.
Swan Lake
Act 2 No. 10 · 432 Hz
The famous oboe theme of Odette. The lake at moonlight; the cursed swan turned woman.
Waltz
from Sleeping Beauty · 432 Hz
A second reading of the Garland Waltz, in 432 Hz tuning.
Andante Maestoso
Symphony No. 5 · 432 Hz
The slow movement of the Fifth. The horn melody that everyone remembers, in unhurried orchestral gold.
Romeo and Juliet
Fantasy Overture
The love-theme that everyone knows, set inside the storm of feuding houses. His first masterwork.
Pas de Deux
The Nutcracker · 432 Hz
A second reading of the great Pas de Deux, in 432 Hz tuning.
Sérénade mélancolique
Op. 26 · 432 Hz
A short concert piece for violin and orchestra. Melancholy as serenade.
Valse Sentimentale
Second reading · 432 Hz
A second reading of the Sentimental Waltz, in 432 Hz tuning.
Polonaise and Waltz
from Eugene Onegin · 432 Hz
Two dances from his Pushkin opera. The ballroom that becomes a confession.
Extended listening
Complete works and compilations
For long sessions of work, study, or contemplation.
Piano Concerto No. 1
B-flat minor · Op. 23
His first and most famous piano concerto. The opening chords known to everyone; the rest a Russian Romantic giant.
String Quartet No. 1
Op. 11 · 432 Hz
The quartet whose Andante cantabile moved Tolstoy to tears. Chamber music at the height of his Russian-folk vein.
Souvenir de Florence
Op. 70 · 432 Hz
String sextet of his maturity. Italian sun written in Russian hand.
The Best of Tchaikovsky
Classical Music for Brain Power · 432 Hz
Forty-six minutes of the most loved Tchaikovsky. For long sessions of work or contemplation.